Geoff's Miscellany

Doug Wilson wrote a post entitled "Believing One Half of the Wrong End of It."

In it he notes: 

A careful opposition to Calvinism, say on the contentment question above, would say something like Calvinism ought to be Stoicism, given the critic’s understanding of the premises, and it is therefore a matter of great curiosity that it is nothing of the kind. That would allow interaction between the views that are actually held by actual people. It is a pity that this kind of thing is so rare — but it must be admitted that it has always been easier to debate with cartoons, especially with the ones you draw yourself.

A favorite verse of Scripture for many (and rightly so) is Acts 2:42. After a whole bunch of people get baptized Luke writes, "They were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Act 2:42 NET)." But what did this look like? Was it disorganized hanging out? Or was there more to it?

Well, one of the earliest Christian writers, Justin Martyr, noted this in his defense of the Christian faith

Warning: post uses Zombie imagery. If that grosses you out then too bad or don’t read it. Note: I do not write this post to secretly reveal any personal problems, but only to reflect upon the nature of marriage, a favorite song, and the Biblical text.

One of my favorite bands since 2004 has been Showbread. One of my favorite songs by them is titled George Romero Will Be At Our Wedding. They have a tendency (or Josh Porter, their lead singer does) to use the macabre and the bizarre to tell stories with deeper meanings.

Q. 22 .What then must a Christian believe?

A. All that is promised us in the gospel, a summary of which is taught us in the articles of the Apostles' Creed, our universally acknowledged confession of faith.

The catechism goes on to list the promises of the movements of the Creed. It is very helpful. I would not formulate many things the same way the catechism does, but it is deeply edifying. I highly recommend a read through: 

In a previous post I mentioned that to become wise, you must flirt with Lady Wisdom. Proverbs 8:32-36 notes that she’s interested in men who study at her gates. Similarly, I submit that in marriage a husband should study his wife. Not in the sense of being a panderer or a sycophant (that ruins friendships, I imagine it ruins marriages too), but in the sense of figuring out what makes her happy, what her temptations and struggles are, what her goals are, what the Lord has done for her thus far, etc. Then obey Jesus and “do unto others…”

It should be a truism that knowing Greek (or at least being familiar with it) is useful for preachers. I would go further and say that it is necessary for a long term ministry because knowing the Scripture in the original gives allows the preacher to explain the Bible not only in terms of his or her experience of obeying Jesus, but by genuine descriptive knowledge of its contents. Both kinds of knowledge are important.

In a study published by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2004 it was concluded that:

Forgiveness, though widely admired as a virtue, sometimes brings costs for self-interest. In the wake of deep hurt, those who forgive must humbly set aside hateful thoughts and vengeful fantasies that seem perfectly justified. To forgive means to cancel a debt, a debt for which one may fully deserve repayment. This debt metaphor suggests a profile of a person who should be especially prone to unforgiveness. An unforgiving person should be someone who is easily offended, highly invested in collecting on debts owed to the self, and determined to assert his or her rights in a principled effort to maintain self-respect. As suggested in the six studies presented here, individuals high in narcissistic entitlement fit this unforgiving profile in ways not fully captured by situational factors (e.g., offense severity, apology, and relationship closeness) or broad-based individual-difference constructs (e.g.,agreeableness, neuroticism, religiosity, social desirability). These findings suggest that narcissistic entitlement is a robust, conceptually meaningful predictor of unforgiveness.

Exline, Julie Juola, Roy F. Baumeister, Brad J. Bushman, W. Keith Campbell, and Eli J. Finkel. “Too proud to let go: narcissistic entitlement as a barrier to forgiveness.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87, no. 6 (2004): 894.

“So listen to me, children! Blessed are those who obey me. Listen to instruction and be wise. Don’t ignore it. Blessed is the person who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorways—because those who find me find life and gain favor from the LORD. But whoever sins against me destroys himself; everyone who hates me loves death.” (Pro 8:32-36 ISV)

The book of Proverbs seems to be intended to help young Israelite men become wise. This does not mean it does not apply to women, it clearly does, but its main intention was apparently to instruct young men. The didactic methods are geared toward young men. Wisdom is portrayed in three ways: a wise mother, a beautiful woman (perhaps even a prophet), and as a wife. Anyhow, the above passage talks about gaining wisdom as a means of gaining favor with God. This is interesting because many today talk about gaining favor with God as some luck of the draw thing. The Proverbs prologue indicates that favor with God is a term for those who work hard to be successful and ethical. But how can one get this wisdom which leads to favor with God? Lady wisdom says, “Blessed is the person who listens to me, watching daily at my gates”. In other words, attend to wisdom daily. Get the attention of wisdom. Treat wisdom as single man would an attractive woman (not as a conquest) but as an object of affection or as a pearl of great price. Sell your possessions to get wisdom and you will be blessed. The point is obvious. To get the lady you must show her attention and figure her out. To get wisdom you must take time to figure it out, this will change you. You have to study daily. It works this way in God’s kingdom too; you sell your possessions to buy a field with a pearl of great price. You sell your sloppy thinking, bad habits, and laziness and study wisdom daily. This looks different for everybody in terms of calling and circumstances (are you a doctor, a grocery clerk, a mechanic, married single, etc). But it also looks the same: become humble, become generous, become frugal, spend time daily improving the skills you need to be a wise [fill in the blank here]. For Christians it also means daily attending to the teachings of Jesus Christ who claims that those who do so “are like a wise man, who built his house upon a rock."